Rust blue gunming

[jeep421]

Delete please

[lefty o]

so your saying you still have rust? carding is an action.

[swheeler]

Hello, I recently revived a bubba type 99 arisaka. Previous owner sanded bluing and metal. Anyways I went ahead a re blued using 7 coats of mark lee express blue. When removed all of the carding with steel wool. I noticed that the bolt a inner receiver still have carding. At first I couldn't even work the bolt. Now I can work,open, close the bolt but it feels as if the action was caked in dirt and sand. The bolt moving surfaces are guume up i cant even rotate the safety. I was thinking I could use either a stainless steel, brass, or copper tooth brush to polish and remove carding. Where can I find one of these locally? A carding wheel in not an option. I dont mind if some of the bluing in the action goes away since over time the bolt will remove it over time. Any advice is appreciated.

You can card with steel wool. It almost sounds like you blued the bolt without stripping down to individual parts, carding and oiling then before reassembly?

[fiberoptik]

Harbor Freight sells the 3 pack toothbrush set: plastic/brass/SS for like $2

[waksupi]

Start at the beginning. I'm going to assume a hot blue. Get some Coke, Mt. Dew, some other soda. Soak the parts good and scrub with an old toothbrush, that will remove any active bluing salts. Then neutralize with baking soda. Dry, then oil.

[Whiterabbit]

fortuitous post, about Mark Lee's product specifically. Has anyone ever used Mark Lee's product, gotten a dark and deep lovely color after bluing, neutralize with baking soda and oil, then let sit for a couple months and end up with the color lightening or losing uniformity? Or have your finishes always been as good looking as the moment you finish the last cycle, neutralize, and oil up.

[BrentD]

Why do you neutralize with anything? The last step in rust bluing it to boil. Boiling negates any possibility of acid remaining. It is all that is needed other than a final carding and oil.

I agree with swheeler, it sounds as though you did not strip this action down to its fundamental parts. That should always be done.

[Blackwater]

If the bluing fades, that tells you that you quit the process too soon. Many quit when they get some color, but to get a deep, rich blue, you have to keep at it several coats after you begin to get color. That's the "secret" to it.

[jeep421]

I used liquid rust blue. You heat up, apply, the. Boil, take the card off. I already neutralized the blueing. The steel wool took of the carding. But a small layer of carding got layered up over the and developed a film.

[BrentD]

Jeep, that doesn't make any sense, carding is a verb, but if you mean the iron oxides that are carded off as black powder, then you can't "layer up" over that because there would be no steel over it to oxidize.

Apply your bluing solution, let it rust, then boil, card and repeat until done.

[jeep421]

Delete

[44man]

Carding means to get the surface crud off to the blueing. The stuff from salts is not card. Inside actions and bolts still need carded if hot blued.

[waksupi]

Why do you neutralize with anything? The last step in rust bluing it to boil. Boiling negates any possibility of acid remaining. It is all that is needed other than a final carding and oil.

I agree with swheeler, it sounds as though you did not strip this action down to its fundamental parts. That should always be done.

Some apparently don't do a boil out. When I was converting AK47's to US compliant, they would come in from Romania crawling with bluing salts. All of us had burns of various degrees from handling them, and our fingernails nearly dissolved.

[Geezer in NH]

Rust bluing is not the Hot casuistic blue Waksupi is talking about. I have hot caustic blue several 100 thousand barrels plus whole guns. That stuff is bad JUJU on bare skin. We kept a bottle of vinegar in the bluing room for splashes and other contact. We also had several Aloe plants in the office for after contact help.

The rust blues are not like that, splashes when carding under water [the only way to card IMHO] do nothing bad it seems. Carding dry with a wheel wear total respiratory gear and eye protection.

[Whiterabbit]

interesting. card underwater. Why? how does that improve the finish?